Last week I got to go to Education Week at BYU for four days.  It was great.  I took copious notes and hope to review them frequently so I can remember what I learned. One class I enjoyed was "Raising Responsible, Emotionally Mature Children", taught by Roger K. Allen.  The big idea I brought home from his class was that I need to let my children own their problems.  It's cultivating an attitude of trusting your children to be able to solve their problems and not being afraid that they won't.  Starting from fear leads to weakening our children by over-managing them which is, "Telling, prodding, reminding, lecturing, giving too much advice, criticizing, interrogating, nagging, etc."  I'm definitely guilty of over-managing. Yesterday was a perfect example of over-managing.  At the end of the day, it felt like I had spent SO much energy trying to get my youngest two to eat enough, sleep enough, and get their homework done.  I ...

School started today.  We enjoyed summer but I'm glad to be getting back to our regular routine.  Here are some things we've done this summer: Scott took the young men in our ward on a trip to the Salmon River.  They spent one day rafting with some guides and that was a lot of fun. Scott went on a 25-mile bike ride with Talmage and other Scouts.  The next week Talmage was off at Scout camp. We went on a hike to Stewart Falls and Talmage and his friend found a snake they befriended. Scott spent a day at girls' camp visiting Susanna. Another girls' camp pic. The children enjoyed the recreational swim team we do every summer, especially Mindy. Another thing we did was go on a hike to Cecret Lake.  I think it was named back in the days of unconventional spelling by drunk miners.  It's a beautiful hike to a little lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It's less than a mile one way, although the trail c...

On July 28th, my husband celebrated his upcoming 50th birthday by running 50 miles in one day.  He's talking about doing it for months and tried to train enough that he wouldn't collapse at 40 miles the way he did last year. July 28th was the day he chose because the weather was remarkably cool.  He started at 3am (he only got about 4 hours of sleep that night) and ran with a friend for almost 5 hours.  He says that really helped.  At 8am he had run 27 miles and he came in for some breakfast and a little stretching and rest.  After about an hour, he took off and ran by himself for another 17 miles. He came home again at 12:30 and had some lunch and rehydration with a little more resting and stretching.  He did the last 6 miles with Mindy riding next to him on her bike.  He had to talk her into it but promised her a trip to Wendy's for French fries if she did it.  About 3pm, 12 hours after he started, he finished! I was in Salt La...